Houston tech jobs to grow in 2025 as Texas leads U.S. in new tech employment

by the numbers

The Houston area is expected to employ 158,176 tech professionals this year, according to a new report by CompTIA. Photo via Getty Images.

Tech employment in the Houston metro area is expected to climb by more than two percent this year, according to a new projection.

CompTIA’s State of the Tech Workforce 2025 report forecasts the Houston area will employ 158,176 tech professionals this year, compared with an estimated 154,905 last year. That would be an increase of 2.1 percent.

These numbers take into account tech workers across all industries, not just those employed in the tech sector. Many of these professionals do work in the tech sector (40 percent), with the remainder (60 percent) employed in other sectors.

Even more impressive than the year-to-year increase is the jump in Houston-area tech employment from 2019 to 2025. During that period, tech employment grew 16.6 percent, according to the report.

The Houston area ranks eighth among major metro areas for the number of tech jobs expected to be added this year (3,271). Dallas rises to No. 1 for the most jobs expected to be added (projection of 13,997 new tech jobs in 2025), with Austin at No. 5 (7,750 new jobs) and San Antonio at No. 21 (1,617 new jobs).

On a state-by-state basis, Texas ranks first for the number of tech workers projected to be added this year (40,051)—up significantly from the 8,181 jobs estimated to be added in 2024—and second for the size of the tech workforce last year (972,747), the report says. The Lone Star State lands at No. 4 for the highest percentage (24 percent) of tech jobs expected to be added from 2025 to 2035.

Backed by a nearly $1.4 billion commitment from the state, the semiconductor industry is helping propel the growth of tech jobs in Houston and throughout Texas.

In 2023, the state launched the Texas Semiconductor Innovation Fund. The fund provides incentives to encourage semiconductor research, design and manufacturing in Texas. State lawmakers allocated $698.3 million for the fund. Another $660 million in state money will help establish semiconductor research and development centers at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University.

“Texas has the innovation, the infrastructure, and the talent to continue to lead the American resurgence in critical semiconductor manufacturing and the technologies of tomorrow,” Gov. Greg Abbott said in a release.

The Houston area is benefiting from the semiconductor boom.

For example, chip manufacturer Nvidia and electronics maker Foxconn plan to build a factory in Houston that will produce AI supercomputers.

Nvidia said in April that the AI supercomputers “are the engines of a new type of data center created for the sole purpose of processing artificial intelligence — AI factories that are the infrastructure powering a new AI industry.”

Meanwhile, tech giant Apple plans to open a 250,000-square-foot factory in Houston that will manufacture servers for its data centers in support of Apple’s AI business. The Houston plant is part of a four-year, $500 million nationwide expansion that Apple unveiled in February.

From Your Site Articles
This new report doesn't include any of the country's top tech hubs. Photo by Hero Images

Houston named among top 10 cities for tech professionals

Move over, Austin

Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and Austin may grab lots of glory as American tech hubs, but Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio blast past all three of them in a new assessment of the top cities for tech workers.

Personal finance website SmartAsset combed through five data factors for 201 U.S. cities — average salary, average cost of living, concentration of tech employment, jobless rate, and average pay versus average tech pay — to come up with its 2018 ranking of the top U.S. cities for tech workers.

Houston comes in at No. 10, up from No. 15 in 2017. As SmartAsset points out, federal data shows the typical tech worker in Houston makes $94,200 a year — 75 percent more than the typical Houston worker.

"One concern, though, if you live in Houston — a bachelor's degree is no guarantee of employment," the report from SmartAsset says.

Why? About 3.6 percent of residents who have bachelor's degrees are unemployed, according to SmartAsset.

Dallas comes in at No. 3, and San Antonio ranks No. 8. Austin is No. 19 on the list, which is up from No. 20 last year.

Topping SmartAsset's ranking is Columbus, Ohio, followed by Des Moines, Iowa. It's worth noting that Silicon Valley and San Francisco didn't crack the top 25, thanks in large part to the high cost of living in that region.

---

This story originally appeared on CultureMap.

Ad Placement 300x100
Ad Placement 300x600

CultureMap Emails are Awesome

Property Showcase

Baylor College of Medicine names Minnesota med school dean as new president, CEO ​

new leader

Dr. Jakub Tolar, dean of the University of Minnesota Medical School, is taking over as president, CEO and executive dean of Houston’s Baylor College of Medicine on July 1.

Tolar—who’s also vice president for clinical affairs at the University of Minnesota and a university professor—will succeed Dr. Paul Klotman as head of BCM. Klotman is retiring June 30 after leading Texas’ top-ranked medical school since 2010.

In tandem with medical facilities such as Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center and Texas Children’s Hospital, Baylor trains nearly half of the doctors who work at Texas Medical Center. In addition, Baylor is home to the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Texas Heart Institute.

The hunt for a new leader at Baylor yielded 179 candidates. The medical school’s search firm interviewed 44 candidates, and the pool was narrowed to 10 contenders who were interviewed by the Board of Trustees’ search committee. The full board then interviewed the four finalists, including Tolar.

Greg Brenneman, chair of Baylor’s board and the search committee, says Tolar is “highly accomplished” in the core elements of the medical school’s mission: research, patient care, education and community service.

“Baylor is phenomenal. Baylor is a superpower in academic medicine,” Tolar, a native of the Czech Republic, says in a YouTube video filmed at the medical school. “And everything comes together here because science saves lives. That is the superpower.”

Tolar’s medical specialties include pediatric blood and bone marrow transplants. His research, which he’ll continue at Baylor, focuses on developing cellular therapies for rare genetic disorders. In the research arena, he’s known for his care of patients with recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa, a severe genetic skin disorder.

In a news release, Tolar praises Baylor’s “achievements and foundation,” as well as the school’s potential to advance medicine and health care in “new and impactful ways.”

The Baylor College of Medicine employs more than 9,300 full-time faculty and staff. For the 2025-26 academic year, nearly 1,800 students are enrolled in the School of Medicine, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and School of Health Professions. Its M.D. program operates campuses in Houston and Temple.

In the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2024, Baylor recorded $2.72 billion in operating revenue and $2.76 billion in operating expenses.

The college was founded in 1900 in Dallas and relocated to Houston in 1943. It was affiliated with Baylor University in Waco from 1903 to 1969.

$50 million for Houston ibogaine research tops innovation news to know

News to know

Editor's note: The Houston innovation scene is entering 2026 with fresh funding for startups and major grants for innovative health treatments and neurological research. Here are the five most-read InnovationMap stories to start the new year, published Jan. 1-15, 2026:

1. Houston hospitals win $50M grant for ibogaine addiction treatment research

UTHealth Houston and UTMB will lead IMPACT, an initiative working toward ibogaine-based treatments for addiction and neurological issues. Photo via Pexels.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has awarded $50 million to UTHealth Houston in collaboration with The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB Health) to co-lead a multicenter research trial to evaluate the effect of ibogaine, a powerful psychoactive compound, on patients suffering from addiction, traumatic brain injury and other behavioral health conditions. The funding will establish a two-year initiative—known as Ibogaine Medicine for PTSD, Addiction, and Cognitive Trauma (IMPACT)—and a consortium of Texas health institutions focused on clinical trials and working toward potential FDA-approved treatments. Continue reading.

2. Rice scientist earns $600K NSF award to study distractions in digital age

Kirsten Adam, a Rice psychologist, is studying how the brain refocuses in the age of screens, instant gratification and other lingering distractions. Photo via Pexels.

Rice University psychologist Kirsten Adam has received a $600,000 National Science Foundation CAREER Award to research how visual distractions like phone notifications, flashing alerts, crowded screens and busy workspaces can negatively impact focus—and how the brain works to try to regain it. Adam’s work will aim to clarify how the brain refocuses in the age of screens, instant gratification and other lingering distractions. The funding will also be used to train graduate students in advanced cognitive neuroscience methods, expand access to electroencephalography (EEG) and for public data sharing. Continue reading.

3. TMC launches new biotech partnership with Republic of Korea

The Texas Medical Center and KBIOHealth have launched the TMC Republic of Korea BioBridge. Photo via LinkedIn.

Houston's Texas Medical Center has launched its new TMC Republic of Korea BioBridge. The new partnership brings together the TMC with the Osong Medical Innovation Foundation, or KBIOHealth. The Biobridge aims to support the commercialization of Korean biotech and life science startups in the U.S., foster clinical research, and boost collaboration in the public, private and academic sectors. Continue reading.

4. CPRIT CEO: Houston’s $2B in funding is transforming cancer research and prevention

Kristen Doyle, CEO of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). Photo courtesy CPRIT.

With its plethora of prestigious health care organizations like the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, UTHealth Houston, and the Baylor College of Medicine, Houston sits at the heart of cancer research and prevention in Texas. Of course, it takes piles of cash to support Houston’s status as the state’s hub for cancer research and prevention. Much of that money comes from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT). Data supplied by CPRIT shows organizations in Harris County gained $2.3 billion in institute funding from 2009 through 2025, or nearly $145 million per year. That represents almost 60 percent of the roughly $4 billion that CPRIT has granted to Texas institutions over a 16-year period. Continue reading.

5. 14 Houston startups starting 2026 with fresh funding

From groundbreaking energy leaders to growing space startups, here's who secured funding in the last six months of 2025. Photo via Getty Images

Houston startups closed out the last half of 2025 with major funding news. Here are 14 Houston companies—from groundbreaking energy leaders to growing space startups—that secured funding in the last six months of the year, according to reporting by InnovationMap and our sister site EnergyCapitalHTX.com. Continue reading.

​Planned UT Austin med center, anchored by MD Anderson, gets $100M gift​

med funding

The University of Texas at Austin’s planned multibillion-dollar medical center, which will include a hospital run by Houston’s University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, just received a $100 million boost from a billionaire husband-and-wife duo.

Tench Coxe, a former venture capitalist who’s a major shareholder in chipmaking giant Nvidia, and Simone Coxe, co-founder and former CEO of the Blanc & Otus PR firm, contributed the $100 million—one of the largest gifts in UT history. The Coxes live in Austin.

“Great medical care changes lives,” says Simone Coxe, “and we want more people to have access to it.”

The University of Texas System announced the medical center project in 2023 and cited an estimated price tag of $2.5 billion. UT initially said the medical center would be built on the site of the Frank Erwin Center, a sports and entertainment venue on the UT Austin campus that was demolished in 2024. The 20-acre site, north of downtown and the state Capitol, is near Dell Seton Medical Center, UT Dell Medical School and UT Health Austin.

Now, UT officials are considering a bigger, still-unidentified site near the Domain mixed-use district in North Austin, although they haven’t ruled out the Erwin Center site. The Domain development is near St. David’s North Medical Center.

As originally planned, the medical center would house a cancer center built and operated by MD Anderson and a specialty hospital built and operated by UT Austin. Construction on the two hospitals is scheduled to start this year and be completed in 2030. According to a 2025 bid notice for contractors, each hospital is expected to encompass about 1.5 million square feet, meaning the medical center would span about 3 million square feet.

Features of the MD Anderson hospital will include:

  • Inpatient care
  • Outpatient clinics
  • Surgery suites
  • Radiation, chemotherapy, cell, and proton treatments
  • Diagnostic imaging
  • Clinical drug trials

UT says the new medical center will fuse the university’s academic and research capabilities with the medical and research capabilities of MD Anderson and Dell Medical School.

UT officials say priorities for spending the Coxes’ gift include:

  • Recruiting world-class medical professionals and scientists
  • Supporting construction
  • Investing in technology
  • Expanding community programs that promote healthy living and access to care

Tench says the opportunity to contribute to building an institution from the ground up helped prompt the donation. He and others say that thanks to MD Anderson’s participation, the medical center will bring world-renowned cancer care to the Austin area.

“We have a close friend who had to travel to Houston for care she should have been able to get here at home. … Supporting the vision for the UT medical center is exactly the opportunity Austin needed,” he says.

The rate of patients who leave the Austin area to seek care for serious medical issues runs as high as 25 percent, according to UT.

View All Listings